Hiring veterans not only makes good business sense but also has proved to be an award-winning approach for Advanced Technology Services, 8201 N. University St.

The Peoria-based company that provides maintenance and technical services to major companies such as Ford and Motorola won five Addy Awards at the Peoria Ad Club's annual awards ceremony held last week.

ATS received recognition for best specialty advertising/direct marketing piece (with its employee calendar, "Roadside America"), for best digital video and for best integrated marketing campaign (the ATS military recruiting campaign), which was also selected for the best-of-show award.

"We are thrilled with the creative recognition that the ATS marketing team has received," said Don Johnson, the ATS marketing vice president.

Recruiting members of the military is not anything new for ATS. "We've been focused on it for the last seven years," said Jim Hefti, vice president of human resources.

Hefti estimated that 25 percent of the ATS work force, consisting of about 3,000 people spread across the nation and at several countries around the world, are veterans or currently serve in military reserve programs.

"We've found that veterans have great skills that translate perfectly to our business," he said.

"We've found that veterans have great technical skills that are maintenance or IT-related. They also have great leadership skills," said Hefti.

The outreach program appears to be working, he said. "We get resumes from veterans every day," said Hefti.

ATS continues to grow and expects the first half of 2013 to be good, followed by an even better second half, he said.

Those looking for a job - whether veterans or not - are urged to apply. "If we don't have a position today, we're keeping their name on file and will call when opportunities do become available," said Hefti.

Steve Tarter can be reached at 686-3260 or starter@pjstar.com. Follow his blog, Minding Business, on pjstar.com and follow him on Twitter @SteveTarter.